The Color Red
by ChibiStarr
Summary: What happened to Latios when he and Latias were separated? Well...     Rated M  just to be safe  for blood and torture and all the stuff that spawns from a twisted mind.


**A/N: **This is a sort-of sequel to my other story "The Color Blue", told from Latios' POV. You don't have to necessarily read Blue to understand this one, but it would help.

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Cold. Cold and sore. Those were the two most prominent things in Latios' mind at that moment, about how cold he was and all those sore places on his body. Of course, he was cold simply because the floor was cold, and the soreness...Well, that was no doubt because all of the chains and cuffs around his body were rubbing against his half-healed wounds, which aggravated them and stopped them from healing up properly. His vision was blurry too, but that was more because his eyes were half open and he was floating between conscious and unconscious most of the time. There was nothing to look at anyway, except red.

The color red was everywhere, crimson spatters on the once pristine walls, pools of blood on the floor, even graceful arcs of the color on the ceiling and some drops on the floor where it had dripped down. Once the room was white, so white it almost hurt to look at when the lights were on. But now the color was almost totally erased, just few spots of it showing where the blood amazingly hadn't hit yet. Even Latios himself was covered in blood, all of it his. His blue feathers had turned a bluish purple a long while ago when the blood had dried, and clumps of red-white feathers were stuck up stiff because the chains had fluffed them up and the blood had dried them in that position. Before Latios had tried to clean himself, but the chains made it too hard and painful and the taste of his own blood would linger in his mouth for days afterwards. Eventually he just stopped caring.

Actually, he stopped caring about a lot of things. About how much he hurt, how hungry or thirsty he was, what time it was, where he was, why he was here...those were all unimportant now. The blood spattered window above his head always had shadowy figures behind it. Human figures, ones that always watched and sometimes talked to him, always demanding him to give his powers to them and their cause. Latios didn't care about them either, to some extent. He cared about what they wanted from him. He was a legendary after all, and just rolling over and letting humans use his powers was not only an insult of the highest kind, it would also create effects so disastrous that Latios would shudder just giving a thought to it. So they tortured him, trying to break him. They would never kill him, they were very careful of that, they just wanted him to break and become submissive. They didn't care what state he would be in when they were finished, as long as he was capable of using his powers. But Latios wouldn't give them that satisfaction, no matter how hard they tried. The dragon had always known humans were cruel, not to be trusted, but he had no idea just how twisted their minds could become. They almost seemed to relish in the pain they could put the Eon pokemon and Latios was almost certain that they would sit around a table constantly and think up new and creative ways to put him in the most agonizing pain he had ever felt in his life. He would never give them the pleasure of hearing him scream, he held all of that in.

At first they had asked him where his sister was. He wouldn't tell them, and the very thought of his innocent little sister being cruelly tortured the same way he was would send him in a furious bloodlust and he would start tearing apart the nearest humans he saw, chains or no chains. The humans had learned very quickly not to touch on that particular subject, even though they were blocking his psychic abilities as best as they could, some of it would still leak through if the dragon was angry enough. But no matter how hard he tried to forget her, Latias still lingered in the back of his mind. The bond between them had broken, partly from distance and partly from Latios own work. He had shielded himself from his sister, he did not want her to feel his pain and suffering, so he had distanced himself so completely that he had severed their link, quite by accident, but still painful. It was like he had lopped off his own arm and every day that spot was still raw and bleeding. He just prayed over and over to Arceus that Latias wouldn't be captured like he was, he feared that he might go mad if she was.

_"Latias! Fly! Quickly, they don't know where we are! Fly, loop around the forest and hide yourself among the trees!" _

_"What about you?" Latias demanded, refusing to move. Her golden eyes shone in the dead of the night. She was afraid, Latios knew. She was trembling in fact, but she would not move unless her brother was coming with her._

_The sounds were getting closer. The sounds of pokemon cried and harsh humans voices. Latios had never seen this group before, they dressed in silver and called themselves Team Galactic, whatever that meant. They were not like Team Magma and Team Aqua, Latios could tell. Magma and Aqua only hunted Groudon and Kyogre and left the siblings well enough alone, but this team was quite strictly after them. "I will fly above the forest, just above the trees." Latios hissed, becoming more tense every moment. "If they see me, they could not get to me, the trees would block their way. They'll run after us, we lead them around in a few circles and once we lose them we'll meet up above the Rusturf Tunnel. Like always, right?"_

_Latias didn't look totally convinced. He was getting a little hysterical, and Latias could tell. "I don't know, these people are different Latios. Maybe we-"_

_At that moment the humans burst out of the trees, right by them. They shouted and suddenly their pokemon were attacking, blasting at them and trying to injure the dragons so they could be captured easier. Latias squeaked and threw up a Protect a mere second after Latios disrupted all of their attacks with a powerful Psywave. Latios had to smile, his sister's reflexes were improving tremendously. "Good girl, now go! Right now before I throw you!"_

_"But-" She was visibly torn between wanting to run and wanting to stay with him._

_"GO!" He yelled and rocketed away, rising straight up and firing attacks at the pokemon below. He was angering them, getting their attention, then he flew off, skimming the tops of the trees just like he said he would do. He could hear their sounds of pursuit, but he was not afraid. The air was his element, and he could outfly these mongrels any day or night. The only problem now was to get them lost._

And he had lost them eventually. He had met up with Latias above Rusturf Tunnel and everything seemed fine after that. They were used to running from people, and they did flee. But something was wrong this time. These humans pursued them, on flying mounts that were nowhere near as fast as the dragons, but no matter how far they flew or what routes they took, those flying pokemon could still find them. Latios remembered those chases, terrifying as they were, always seeing his pursuers on the horizon, even after days they would not give up. They had tried to lead them around Hoenn, but this Team Galactic had eventually boxed them in, and they had no choice but to fly right out of Hoenn and into Sinnoh. That was their major mistake. Team Galactic had been from Sinnoh, and the siblings had stepped right out of their home territory and onto their enemies'. Not only did they not know the land and where to run or hide, but the Galactics seemed to have planned to chase them into Sinnoh, because they had been waiting for them. Luckily Latias had managed to escape with some major help from Latios, but at one point they had gotten separated and Latios had been captured.

_"Hey boss! We got one of 'em!" The humans called somewhere above Latios' head. Latios could hear running footsteps, and even as he tried to move the net around him crackled with electricity. The pain ripped through him and left him on the ground once more, panting and gasping for breath._

_"Excellent," the new voice said, the speaker's shadow cast over Latios' eyes. "Take him back to the base. And get that other legendary too!"_

After that everything had been about pain. Time had stood still and lost its meaning. Time was no longer measured in seconds and minutes and hours, it was measured by the valleys and peaks of pain, how they would rise up and dwindle back down, then come back twofold. It seemed to be a rhythm almost, the pain would stab into him, ripping him apart and pulling him to the brink of unconsciousness, then it would recede, lulling him into a false sense of security until it would spring back like a striking predator. It was like fire, dancing along his nerves and tormenting his mind and always promising more to come. It would not let him rest, not even death could release him from his agony, because the pain would not let him die.

But that would have been just the thing for Latios to escape. They could kill him, then he would be resurrected and then he could find Latias. He had no idea what trouble she could get herself into when he was not around. He knew she would not intentionally get herself into any sort of trouble, trouble just seemed to be attracted to her like a magnet. She constantly worried him, his main fear being her curiosity around humans. She didn't know just how dangerous and unpredictable they could be; true there were a few diamonds out there, but most of the humans just wanted to capture them and use their powers for battling or taking over the world. Latias didn't share his views, she seemed to think humans were a lot kinder than they seemed. In fact, that only reason Latios had gotten himself a human disguise was because Latias did it first and it would have been very suspicious if a girl had a Latios following her everywhere. Half the time they spent in Alto Mare she was in her human form, fraternizing with humans! He swore one day she would give him a heart attack.

Even though she had all the best intentions in the world, it was just better for Latias to stay away from humans. Latios shuddered, he hoped she would not find any while he was gone. Even though she had a human form, she couldn't even speak (not that she wasn't capable of it, she just didn't know how) and that made her all the more vulnerable. She had tried to make friends a few times, but humans were very fickle creatures and hardly ever stayed for long. Sometimes she seemed quite lonely and would keep trying to make friends, and sometimes she would go off without even telling him.

:Latios! Answer me dangit!:_ He cried out, flying over the city, trying to keep himself invisible. Latias was shielding herself, he knew. Not just her location, but her thoughts as well. From what he could tell it wasn't entirely on purpose; she wasn't blocking him out to be mean, she just did not want to be found just yet._

_But Latios had no intentions of just leaving her alone. If she was doing what he thought she was doing, he had every right to tear this city apart looking for her. So far he had covered the western and northern ends of the town, and she was not by the waterways, so that left him to go around the marketing areas. It would make sense, more people hung out there. As he darted around the buildings, he scanned the crowds and suddenly saw her. She was dressed in the human clothing she had bought a few weeks ago: a red and white dress that made Latios think of something called a "candy cane" every time he saw it, with white stockings that covered her legs and a cute pair of black maid shoes. She was easily identified by her long, very red hair that reached her hips and her gold eyes. Oddly humans did not seem to mind the yellow eyes that much, they always assumed it was something called "contacts", whatever those were._

_But it was not Latias that worried him at that moment, it was who she was with. It was a human girl, from the way she was dressed she had to be a trainer. She also had long red hair, but not as long as Latias' and it seemed more like a fire red than Latias' crimson hair. Latios was well aware of the fact that his sister could not speak human even if her life depended on it, but oddly the trainer girl did not seem to care, the girl was doing all of the talking and pointing out random things and he could tell Latias was listening raptly. Latios sighed and shook his head. He quickly floated into and alley and quickly transformed himself. He could not perform an actual metamorphosis like Mew, even though some of his body did change shape, but he could use his feathers to bend light a certain way and make him look like a human, and through a complex psychic illusion he could make the humans think they were seeing hearing, and even touching a human. It was quite complex, and he could even swear he was fooled by it half the time._

_He quickly made his way out of the alley, no doubt attracting a stare or two. His hair was short and a stark white in contrast to his tanned skin, and he wore a red visor over his eyes. The visor was necessary though, in human form is eyes were a startling shade of crimson, and he wore a red visor to cover the color so the humans weren't immediately freaked out. As he made his way through, he saw Latias spot him and wave. The human next to her turned and looked at him. He narrowed his eyes at her, but he was certain she wouldn't see it. "Is that your brother?" He saw her lips say. Latias nodded and bounded off, but not before giving her a hug of goodbye first._

:Hey Latios, what's up?:_ Latias asked, bright and peppy as she could possibly be. Latios sighed and let his irritation seep through their bond. He saw Latias flinch, but he knew she was absolutely shameless in what she had done. He turned to the human and nodded once, then looked down. The girl had a Vulpix, who was staring right at him. Unlike humans, pokemon were more in tune with their environment, and they knew dang well when some legendaries were around. He nodded at the Fire pokemon as well, and was astounded when it nodded back at him. Weird. He quickly led Latias away, trying to find a place to morph back._

He heard something then, something that brought him away from the memories and back to the present. The humans were up to something, he could hear them moving and talking. He opened his eyes, which were nearly dried shut from the blood on them. At first the room swam, but it righted itself after a moment. He blinked a few times, the colors of the room hurting his eyes. Red and white, Latias' colors. The same colors of her dress, the same colors as her feathers.

"Latios," a nameless voice crackled overhead through the intercom. Static whined in the background, making the voice a mere hiss and the gender impossible to tell. "Have you thought about our offer long and hard? We hope so, we do hate seeing you like this."

They did not. Latios knew about that well enough. He also knew about the offer they were talking about. Anger burned slowly throughout his chest, like a dull coal sluggishly radiating heat throughout his body. A growl rose low in his throat, a little wet because of the blood that he had swallowed earlier. He pushed himself up and a dull pain arced across his back; he had long ago learned to ignore the sore pains afterwards, before he would be in hours of agony after the torturing had ended, but now it just dully burned. The chains seemed to be made of stone, fingers of stone that were draped over his body and trying to insistently pull him back down. He wanted nothing more than to spread his wings and fly, but he was caught in that stone hand. From the way his wings felt, he doubted he even could fly, but he still had that little hope. He shot his neck up and growled, a deep throated growl only dragons were capable of making, clearly defying those above him.

Silence. Endless silence that, contrarily, spoke volumes. It was that tense silence like those before a rain silence, as if the world were holding its breath waiting for something. Latios shifted, and the first threads of fear were stitched into his chest. His heartbeat quickened, then-

PAIN! Electricity crackled from the chains and tore into his body with fiery teeth and claws, ripping him apart. He locked his jaw and cut off the scream in his throat, but he gladly screamed inside his head, a wail of agony private to only him. His body hit the floor and his back arched upwards from the electricity running throughout his body. His wings crumpled and he tried to crawl out from under the chains, but they were cuffed around his arms, so he could only see his claws scrabble uselessly at the floor while the wristcuffs were alight with blue-white electricity. The room vanished and was replaced with a gray haze of pain that was broken by a few brightly colored dots whenever the agony got especially fierce.

Then, as quickly as it had come, the pain vanished. Latios went limp, panting for breath and shuddering involuntarily as the current still seized his body up. The room swam in and out of view, shifting from red to gray constantly from the effort to stay awake. Somewhere, a door slid open. Latios heard footsteps approaching, then realized someone was in the room with him. He looked up, for he was too weak to raise his head, and saw a member of Team Galactic staring at him. It was a male that held a pokeball in his hand, his expression twisted in a grin that promised nothing but more pain to come.

Latios managed to lift his head up a little, he thought he even managed a glare. The man did not seem perturbed in the least. He stared at the pokeball in his hand, as if it were an interesting object that required further examination; then he pushed the button and the pokeball snapped open. "Come out, Kabutops." The man commanded, his voice suddenly very loud in the small room.

The pokemon that appeared was tall and spindly, with insect-like limbs. It was covered in a hard brown exoskeleton, which turned gray around its chest and abdomen. The back was protected by rows of hard spikes that went all the way down to its tail, which was just as rigid as the spikes. It had no hands, and instead had a long sickle-shaped claw that nearly touched its knees. The head was very broad and flat and shaped like a semicircle. Two slit eyes glared at the dragon below it. Latios remembered the pokemon, he had seen one before in Alto Mare.

The Shellfish pokemon cocked its head, a short, quick movement that wasn't unlike a bird's. "Kabutops, Slash," the Galactic member ordered. The Kabutops made a clicking sound, then rushed forward.

The thing was fast, Latios barely saw it until one of its claws lashed out and hit him in the chest. He jerked back, reflexively, and a sudden splash of red flew through the air, hitting the Kabutops and putting a fresh layer of red on the floor. A growl of pain slipped out of his throat and he quickly swallowed it, trying not to show weakness. "Keep hitting him with Slash, Kabutops," he heard the grunt say again and then the pain was back. A distinct line of fire shot through his arm and another across his back. He jerked, trying to twist away, but the chains were so heavy and they were dragging him down and holding him in place while the Kabutops mercilessly raked its claws into him. Suddenly it stepped too close and Latios saw an opening, quick as a flash he whipped his head around and bit into the softer armor of its abdomen. He heard it shriek, and suddenly he was being electrocuted again, the intense pain blowing away every rational thought and bringing the gray haze back over the world.

He felt more pain now, from the electricity and the pokemon attacking him, but it seemed far away and distant, as if he was merely experiencing someone else's pain and not his own. It was a defense mechanism he developed long ago, when the pain would start to become too much for him to bear, he would start to automatically shut down, and it seemed that his mind would literally detach itself from his body. He could see nothing, hear nothing, and most importantly feel nothing. Occasionally a wave of pain ripped through his defenses, and that was his only way to measure the passing time. Sometimes he wished he would die, then he would have been free and he could be resurrected somewhere outside the base. He felt awful for leaving his sister like this, and the sight of the Kabutops made it worse, and they were stirring some very unpleasant memories in the back of his mind. How ironic, it seemed, that before Latias was being chased by a Kabutops, and now he was at the mercy of one. It reminded him of the disaster in Alto Mare...

_"Latios! Don't you dare leave me like this!" He heard Latias cry, and suddenly her arms were around him, as if her grip could keep him from slipping away._

_The anguish in her voice hurt him, just as much as the wounds on his body did. Despite his protests against humans, he loved the city of Alto Mare very much, and he was its guardian and he would have protected it from anything. But he had no idea the cost would be so high; he knew he had been weak, and the power needed to save the city had been much more than he expected. Even now he was fading, his physical body almost gone. Before he would fade completely away, he grabbed his sister and held her in a tight embrace. "I'm sorry," he whispered, feeling her tremble in his arms. "I didn't mean to do this. I thought...I thought it would be easier to turn back the waves. I'm so sorry."_

_A keening sound reached his ears, and he realized it was coming from his sister. The sound was utterly heartbreaking, and it hurt him just like a bolt of lightning striking his heart. Suddenly Latias wrenched herself out of his grip and stared at him. She looked hurt and betrayed, and Latios couldn't understand why. "You _can't_ leave me!" She shouted at him, tears forming in her eyes and falling. "You promised you would never leave me!"_

_Those seven words struck him like blows and he felt himself go cold. He reached out a hand to her. "Little sister..." he whispered. Even as he looked at it it faded away, already his arm was transparent and wisps of it curled away into nothingness._

_Latias looked at him and reached out her own arm until their claws touched. "Big brother..." she whined; the fire seemed to have left her now, leaving behind nothing but grief. "Please..."_

_He felt himself being pulled away. His claws slipped out of hers. "I'm sorry," he whispered again, and it was the last thing he said to her before he died._

A bolt of pain went through him and he was jerked back into the present. He was lying on his side, and he did not care to know what condition he was in. He couldn't even lift his head to look at the Kabutops above him and just stared at it blearily. As he watched a red light enveloped it and it disappeared. He saw the Galactic come closer and was too weak to even glare at him. Suddenly the human took another pokeball and opened it, a different one than before. The pokemon that appeared was one Latios had never seen before. It was yellow and shaped like a ball, with a pair of red and white tassels on top of its head and instead of standing it was floating, just like a Psychic pokemon.

The pokemon let out a sound that sounded exactly like a bell ringing, much to Latios' shock. "Chingling, use Wish," he heard the Galactic say. Latios could not have been more surprised if Latias herself had just appeared out of the pokeball. He knew what Wish was, but why were they healing him?

The answer came to him a few seconds later, they did not want him to die, and they did not want him to be uselessly crippled or injured either. They would heal some of his wounds, but not all of them. He watched dully as the bright red wounds marring his body began glowing a bright blue that threw more light on the walls of the dim room. When did the room get so dim? Latios did not remember the light turning off. The wounds slowly stopped bleeding, then they began closing, leaving nothing but soft red scars behind. A coolness flowed throughout his body, gently sweeping away the pain and leaving nothing but blessed numbness. The worst of the injuries were healed, and the smaller ones had stopped bleeding already. The glow left him, leaving nothing but the numb feeling behind. The Galactic turned and went for the door, motioning the Chingling after him. He quickly left, leaving Latios behind in the dim quarters. There were no more people behind the glass, Latios could tell. Had they finally gotten bored and left, or did they have more important things to attend to? He gave those questions a little bit of attention, then he realized he did not care. He just cared about how tired he was. He hissed as he turned himself onto his stomach and his wounds burned, but the numbness soon chased the pain away. Very carefully, he lowered his head onto his claws and slept, seeking refuge in the dark oblivion that had become his dreams and sanctuary.

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**A/N: **Oh my. After re-watching Heroes I feel rather evil for doing this to poor Latios.


End file.
